BICOM

This morning, a number of attacks have taken place across Israel, with multiple incidents taking place in Raanana and Jerusalem.

In what appears to be the most serious incident, two attackers boarded a bus in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv and begun shooting and stabbing people. According to police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld, one terrorist was shot and killed by police, while the second was detained by police. Another attack took place in Malchei Israel Street in Jerusalem, where a vehicular attack injured three Israelis. Reports indicate that 21 people were injured, 8 seriously and two people were killed in the two attacks.

Earlier this morning, an East Jerusalem resident stabbed and lightly injured a man on a major thoroughfare in the central city of Ra’anana. Passers-by subdued the attacker until police arrived at the scene. According to latest reports, a second stabbing took place in Raanana shortly afterwards, where two people were injured.

The IDF was preparing for possible mass unrest in the West Bank, after Palestinian groups including the elements of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction called for a “day of rage.” Local Palestinians and Israeli troops have clashed in numerous West Bank locations during the past few days, with several Palestinians killed in the violence.

Today’s strike is seeing businesses and schools closed in many Arab areas of Israel. The Israeli Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee has called for a mass demonstration in the northern town of Sakhnin against the “danger to the al-Aqsa Mosque” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The site which is holy to Jews and Muslims has been the apparent touchstone for the current violence, although Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly reiterated again yesterday that there is no intention to alter the status quo there.

According to Maariv, organisers dubbed today’s protest as “the mother of all demonstrations” and police are deploying in increased numbers, anticipating up to 30,000 people travelling into Sakhnin. The demonstration are expected to be attended by Arab MKs, mayors and Muslim and Christian leaders.

However, during the past several days, apparent differences have been exposed between the national and local leadership of the Arab community. On Sunday evening, Ayman Odeh MK, leader of the Joint Arab List was interviewed live from Nazareth on Channel Two news. Odeh has been highly critical of Israel’s government over the recent violence. However, during the interview, Nazareth’s Mayor Ali Salem drove up to Odeh and upbraided him from his car, accusing Odeh of “ruining” the city with incitement and told him to “get out of here.” Salem later told Army Radio that leaders such as Odeh “are destroying our future, they are destroying coexistence.”